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Exodus 13:17-14:31
The LORD fights for His people
The reality of war can be a terrifying thing. And for some soldiers when
they caught up in the terror, it’s just too much for them. And they try to
flee the battlefield. And to try and stop this from happening, there’s
normally harsh punishments for soldiers who try and flee. Recently ISIS
have been killing their own soldiers who flee the battlefield. I won’t go
into the gory details.
Well just like soldiers who flee the battlefield, there’s a great danger that
we’ll be overwhelmed by the battles of the Christian life. And when we
faced with war, we’ll flee and turn back to our old lives of comfortable
living in this world.
And so my aim this morning is prepare us for war. And you might not
think that’s necessary. We live in a relatively peaceful country. We live in
a peaceful suburb. I don’t think there’s war on the immediate horizon.
Why should we be prepared for war?
Well the Bible regularly describes the Christian life as war. And in fact
it’s a far greater war than any physical battle.
In the words of John Piper, “Very few people think we are in a war that is
greater than World War II, or any imaginable nuclear war. Few reckon
that Satan is a much worse enemy than any earthly foe, or realize that
the conflict is not restricted to any one global theatre, but is in every
town and city in the world. Who considers that the casualties of this war
do not merely lose an arm or an eye or an earthly life, but lose
everything, even their own soul and enter a hell of everlasting torment.”
Not many people realize it, but this is the teaching of the Bible. There’s a
great unseen battle going on in this world and it affects all of us. And so
we need to be prepared for war.
And in our passage this morning Israel is expecting to face war. And you
can see that right at the start of our passage at the end of verse 18.
Notice how Israel leave the land of Egypt. The final sentence of verse
18. “The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle.”
Now just in case you joining us for the first time this morning, we’ve been
working through the book of Exodus and Israel have been slaves in
Egypt for 430 years. And they’ve been terrible years: slavery, beatings,
harsh labour, murder.
But now at last, God has come to their rescue. chapter 13 verse 17.
Pharoah’s decided to let the people go.
And the Israelites know, in order to get to their destination, the promisedland, they gona need to pass through other nations. And these nations
won’t just let them pass through peacefully. They probably gona need to
fight. And so they leave Egypt armed for battle.
And so let’s just zoom in on the Israelite camp and see how they feeling
as they set out from Egypt.
I want you to see that they feeling pretty confident
Firstly they've got the assurance of God’s promise.
I dunno about you, but if I’m going on a long distance hike, I prefer to
pack light. Only the necessities. No extra luggage. No heavy items.
Certainly not a coffin with the bones of my great great great uncle.
Well look at verse 19. I’m sure uv all heard of Joseph. He’s the guy whio
sold as a slave in Egypt in the first place. He’s one of the great
ancestors of the Israelites. And in verse 19 it says: Moses took the
bones of Joseph with him. Why would Moses pack the bones of a dead
man?
Well its all because of the promise of God. Just turn back a few pages to
the end of Genesis. If you look at Genesis chapter 50 verse 24. This is
just before Joseph dies. Look at what he says:
“Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. But God will surely
come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land He
promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” And Joseph made the
sons of Israel swear an oath and said, “God will surely come to your aid,
and then you must carry my bones up from this place.”
So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. And after they
embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.”
And so you see these bones are a great reminder of God’s promise. For
400 years they’ve just been lying there in this coffin. But on this day, the
Israelites can pick them up and pack them in their backpacks. God’s
promise is being fulfilled.
And secondly, they’ve got the assurance of God’s presence. Look at
verse 21.
“By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them
on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they
could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the
pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.”
And so basically there isn’t a single moment where these people need to
feel lost or confused or scared. Every moment of every day, they can
see the presence of God.
And so you can sense the confidence in Israelite camp.
Armed for battle. Assured by God’s promise. Assured of God’s
presence.
No wonder chapter 14 verse 8 says: (right at the end of verse 8) “They
marched out boldly.”
These people are confident. They assured. They ready to fight
But now I want you to see what God thinks. Just look back at verse 17
again. God doesn’t think they ready to fight. Chapter 13 Verse 17 –
“When Pharoah let the people go, God didn’t lead them on the road
through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said: “If
they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt. So
God led the people around by the desert road towards the Red Sea.”[i]
There should be a map on the screen to show you what this verse is
saying. The top red line. That’s the road through Philistine country. It’s
the shortest route to Canaan, the promised-land. It would have taken
them 4-5 days. But then they would have faced war. And so God leads
them all the way down along the bottom red line through the desert. And
this’ll be their class-room for the next 3 chapters. God’s gona teach them
the lesson of faith.
And just like these Israelites, we’ve also been saved. Not out of physical
slavery, but out of spiritual slavery.
And we also on a journey to our promised land.
But just like with these Israelites, there’s the great danger that we’ll want
to turn back.
And we might be marching out boldly: Assured of God’s promise,
Assured of God’s presence, armed for spiritual warfare.
But God knows there some battles we not yet ready to face.
Maybe an especially severe persecution
or maybe an especially strong temptation
or maybe an intense period of suffering.
And God knows, if we face those things straight away we’ll very easily
turn back.
And so isn’t it a wonderful comfort: God knows what we can handle. 1
Corinthians 10:13 says: “God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted
beyond what you can bear.”
There many battles in the Christian journey. But this is the assurance for
God’s people. He will carry us to the end. He knows what we can cope
with. And He will strengthen us and prepare us for each stage and for
each battle along the way.
And so God leads Israel into the dessert. This is the classroom of faith.
And this morning we gona see the first lesson He teaches His people.
Before you can fight, you first need to watch. You need to see God
fighting for you. The key verse is chapter 14 verse 11. “The LORD will
fight for you. You need only to be still.”
And that’s still true for us today
If we wanna take up arms in our Christian life, if we wanna go to war
against our great enemies; the devil and the world and our sin.
The gossip or the pornography or the anxiety or the bitterness or the
anger or the laziness or the greed.
Before you can take up arms against these things, you first need to be
still and have a personal experience of God’s power fighting for us.
That’s what God gives Israel in this passage.
Now I dunno how many of you’ve ever had to deal with a rat infestation
and uv had to kill the rats in your house or in your roof. We had to do it
last year. Its not a very pleasant thing to have to do. And if you someone
who loves rats you might just wanna close your ears now. But one of the
ways of killing a rat is by using a rat trap. And of course we all know how
a rat trap works. You put a nice piece of tasty cheese on the trap. And
this piece of cheese is so attractive to the rat, that it draws it out of its
hole and it comes to eat the cheese. But in order to do that, it needs to
step up onto the trap. And as soon as it disturbs one of the wires on the
trap, it snaps down and crushes the rats head or its neck. Its one of the
ways to kill a rat.
And in this passage, God uses Israel almost like a rat trap. He puts
Israel there like a tasty piece of cheese to try and draw Egypt into His
trap.
And you can see that in chapter 14 verse 1. We’ve already seen the
strange route God’s taking Israel. Now it gets even stranger. Look at
chapter 14:2.“Then the LORD said to Moses: tell the Israelites to
turn back and camp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea.
They are to camp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon.”
Now there different opinions about where exactly these places are. But
basically on the next map you can see they were travelling from the land
of Goshen to the edge of the desert to a place called Etham. That’s the
first red arrow. But then God tells them to turn back and to go and camp
on the Egyptian side of the Red Sea. That’s the next red arrow, bending
back.
And so this is all very strange? Its the opposite direction to where they
meant to be going. Now they’ve got the sea blocking their way. What is
God doing?
Well He’s using Israel to draw Pharoah into His trap. Look at verse 3.
Pharoah will think, “The Israelites are wandering around the desert
in confusion, hemmed in by the desert. And I will harden Pharoah’s
heart, and he willpursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through
Pharoah and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the
LORD.”
And so this is all part of God’s great plan to use Pharoah for His glory.
And so now let’s quickly flash away from the Israelite camp and go back
to Egypt and see how the Egyptians are feeling now that Israelites have
gone. Look at verse 5.
When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharoah and
his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we
done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!”
And so Pharoah changes his mind. He gets his chariot ready ready and
he gathers together the most powerful army in the world. His best
chariots, his best officers. all the other horses and troops of Egypt. It’s
the whole army
And remember Egypt’s the superpower of the day. This is the most
powerful army in the world.
And so at the end of verse 8 it says Israel are marching out boldly. But
they dunno what’s about to hit them. TheEgyptians are coming with the
most powerful army in the world.
And so let’s switch back to the Israelite camp. Everything’s peaceful. Uv
set up camp next to the sea. You’re just relaxing a bit after a few days of
travel. Just enjoyed a nice swim in the sea. And as you put your feet up
and look out in the distance, you see this cloud of dust rising in the air.
And as you look more closely you see flashes of light and what looks like
metal reflecting the sun. And then in the dust you start to make out the
shape of horses and chariots and soldiers. And suddenly you realize,
there’s this massive army rushing towards you.
Suddenly all the peace and confidence and boldness is gone. And ur
gripped with terror. Look at verse 10. “As Pharoah approached, the
Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them.
They were terrified and cried out to the LORD.”
Suddenly Israel’s boldness is gone. And in its place is terror and despair.
And not only are they afraid. They also bitter.
Look at verse 11. They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no
graves in Egypt that you brought us to thedesert to die? What have
you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to
you in Egypt, “Leave usalone; let us serve the Egyptians? It would have
been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert.”’
And so dyou see God’s prediction at the beginning was right. These
people felt so confident. They seemed so bold and assured. But as soon
as they face with war, they immediately wanna turn back.
Now if you watch movies on etv or SABC you’ll know one of the most
frustrating things is the ad breaks. And those ad breaks always seem to
come at the most exciting points in the story.
Well at the risk of being like an etv movie, I just wanna take a break at
this crucial point just to think about our own lives.
Isn’t it true that we are so often like the Israelties. We have a spiritual
high. Maybe after a Christian conference or a great sermon or an
amazing quiet time. And we walk out so full of the joy of the Lord,
knowing His presence, determined to change our lives and to live for
Jesus.
And then suddenly we get criticized or we hear some bad news or we
get asked to do something that’s so daunting.
And suddenly the mood changes.
That faith in God is gone. And all we can see is this new trouble. And it
consumes us. And we forget about God and His promise and His
presence. And we despair. And we become bitter.
And so we need to remember. 1 Corinthians 10:12. “If you think ur
standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!
An attack might be coming just round the corner. And are you ready to
stand and to cling to God even then?
So let’s get back to the story. Israel are trapped. They’ve got the sea on
the one side, the Egyptian army on the other side. They terrified. They
crying out to God.
But look at verse 15. Its actually quite funny. According to God, there’s
no reason to be crying. Verse 15. Then the LORD said to Moses,
“Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.”
And if you one of the Israelites, you thinking to yourself: “how are we
meant to move on? In case you haven’t noticed, we stuck between 2
barriers: the sea on the one side. The Egyptian army on the other side?
Where we supposed to move?
Well what might seem like a barrier to us is not a barrier to God.
According to God the sea is something that can be opened.
And according to God this massive Egyptian army isn’t a reason to fear.
Rather its an opportunity for glory.
Look at verse 17. Notice God’s perspective on this army. Verse 17 “I will
harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And
I will gain glory through Pharoah and all his army, through
his chariots and his horsemen.
And so d’you see how differently God thinks to the Israelites? According
to the Israelites the bigger the Egyptian army, the more reason to fear.
Not according to God. According to God, the bigger the Egyptian army,
the more opportunity for Him to get glory.
And so lets just think about that for ourselves. How do we view problems
in our lives? When they just too big? When we feel trapped? When we
feel overwhelmed? Are we more like the Israelites or like God? Do we
see trouble as a reason for fear? Or as an opportunity for God to gain
glory?
You see, If you’ve been listening to Exodus you’ll know: the main
concern of God in this world is for His glory. And if you really
convinvced about that then you don’t need to fear ur problems. Rather
you can turn to God and say: God, this is the problem I’m facing. I dunno
how to handle it. But how you gona use this for the glory of ur name?
And He might not always take the problem away. But He will use it for
His glory and for the strengthening of your faith. And that’s exactly what
He does in the rest of this passage.
He fights for His people.
You can see how He protects them in verse 19. The pillar of cloud goes
between the Israelites and the Egyptians so they can’t come near each
other. In verse 20 the Lord gives light to the Israelites and darkness for
the Egyptians. And then in verse 21 the LORD opens a path through the
sea so that the Israelites can walk through. And not only is it an open
path, its also a dry path. If you looked at their feet on the other side, you
wouldn’t see any mud. They walk through on dry ground. And so God is
protecting His people.
But at the same time, He is fighting their enemies. Look at verse 24:
“During the last watch of the night, the LORD looked down from the pillar
of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. He
made the wheels of their chariots come off so that they had difficulty
driving. And the Egyptians said, “Lets get away from the Israelites! The
LORD is fighting for them against the Egyptians.”
But they can’t get away. Verse 28. As soon as the Israelites have
passed through, God tells Moses to stretch out his hand over the sea
and verse 28 says: “The water flowed back and covered the chariots
and horsemen – the entirearmy of Pharoah that had followed the
Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.”
Now there some people who try and explain this story so that it doesn’t
really sound like God is powerful.
There’s a story about a young Christian lady who’s travelling in a bus
and she’s just beginning to love the Bible and so she’s reading in the
bus. And she’s reading this story in Exodus. And she’s so amazed about
what she’s reading and excited by what God does here that she turns to
the man sitting next to her and she says: you can’t believe what I’m
reading. God opened up the sea so that His people could pass through.
And it just so happens this man’s a Bible scholar and he turned to the
woman and he said aah but you can’t really take that literally. Modern
scientific studies have proved that the Red Sea’s actually the Reed Sea
and the reed sea’s actually just a knee deep marsh and that’s why the
Israelites were able to walk through. And so the woman’s a bit
disappointed but who’s she to argue with this learned scholar. And so
she decides just to keep on reading. But a few moments later she grabs
the guy by the arm and says: You won’t believe this. This is even more
amazing. God uses this knee deep marsh to drown the entire Egyptian
army.
And so you see it’s ridiculous to try and explain this event scientifically.
This is a miraculous event where God shows His supernatural power.
And the important point that gets repeated in this passage is that Israel
simply need to watch.
Just go back to verse 13. Notice the repetition of the word, “see”. Verse
13: Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and you
will see the deliverance the LORD will bring for you today.
Now go to the end. Verse 30: “That day the LORD saved Israel from the
hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the
shore. And when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed
against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in
Him and in Moses His servant.”
And so at the beginning of our passage Israel are armed for battle. They
marched out boldly. But actually they not ready to fight. They first need
to watch. They first need to see God’s power as He destroys their
enemy.
And in the same way do you realize that God has destroyed our great
enemy.
You see just like with the Israelites, we’re in a war. But our enemy isn’t a
physical army like the Egyptians. It’s a spiritual army. And the leader of
the army is the devil
1 Peter 5:8 says your enemy, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion
looking for someone to devour.
Ephesians 6:12 says our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but
against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark
world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
And so there’s this massive unseen army that’s trying to destroy us.
And the Bible calls us to put on our spiritual armour: to wear the helmet
of salvation, to take up the shield of faith, to carry the sword of the Spirit
which is the Word of God. And to go to war against the devil and all his
schemes.
But what we’ve learned today is that before we can to fight. We first
need to watch.
Just like the Israelites saw God’s power displayed against
the Egyptians. In the same way we need to see God’s power displayed
against the devil and all his evil forces.
I dunno if you realize this, but the devil has already been defeated? He
might still be at work in the world. But in one sense, he’s already been
destroyed. And the place where he was destroyed was not at some
miraculous crusade where hundreds of people were healed and people
were slain in the Spirit and demons were driven out.
No, the great place where the devil and his army was defeated was at
the cross. Just look at these verses:
Hebrews 2v14
Its talking about Jesus. It says: He too shared in our humanity, so
that by His death, He might destroy him who holds the power of death
– that is the devil.
How did Jesus destroy the devil? By His death on the cross.
Look at Colossians 2 verse 15. Its talking about the evil powers and
authorities in the heavenly realms. Look at what Jesus has done. Verse
15. “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a
public spectacle of them,triumphing over them by the cross.”
And so I just wanna close with one question. Are you prepared for the
Christian battle?
The only place to be prepared is at the cross.
You need to see the power of the cross. Christ became sin for us. Took
the blame, bore the wrath, we stand forgiven and cleansed and justified
and sanctified and redeemed and loved and adopted and empowered all
at the cross.
That’s where our enemy has been defeated. And so we can go to war in
the Christian life because we are fighting a defeated foe.
Let’s pray.